"THE MORE FLEXIBLE YOU ARE,THE MORE POWER YOU HAVE OVER THE OTHER PERSON"

Ankita Shreeram

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Antano Solar John and Harini Ramachandran, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) experts who have trained under the founders of the discipline, John Grinder and Richard Bandler, tell us about the miracles that NLP can perform for corporate leaders and how it can help them overcome their flaws to achieve professional success

Q HARINI,YOU'RE A TAMIL PLAYBACK SINGER,WHO COULD NEVER REMEMBER SONG LYRICS UNTIL NLP HAPPENED TO YOU.HOW DID THE TRANSFORMATION OCCUR?

Harini: I was singing at a concert once, and Antano noticed me referring to my lyrics book over and over.When the concert was over, he asked me to try a session of NLP and after just 45 minutes of that `voodoo', I realised I could recall the lyrics much easily. Antano: I first asked her to sing the songs that she was familiar with. I saw how she approached them. NLP helps you map fine observations. Using these techniques, I helped her repeat the same process with unfamiliar songs as well. NLP uses the technique of repetition with alteration.

Q HOW DOES NLP HELP IN THE CORPORATE SCENARIO?

Antano: Any productive challenge can be accomplished with a personal change. Corporate leaders often know that they have to change something from within, but they don't know how. For instance, there is a leader who has great ideas, but is nervous when speaking in front of an audience. NLP can help in overcoming that.Then, there are others who find it difficult to achieve work-life balance because they are constantly thinking about work even at home. NLP can change this pattern as well.>> Harini: NLP can help resolve communication and anger issues as well. A lot of times, team members don't see eye to eye with the CEO and the technique can help to create corporate vision with congruence. A lot of people suffer from low productivity due to family issues as well. NLP can help you make work decisions that benefit your family life and vice versa.

Q A FEW CRITICS HAVE CALLED NLP A PSEUDOSCIENCE.YOUR VIEWS?

Antano: Arthur Clarke once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is undistinguishable from magic.The biggest danger is that of incompetent practitioners and that is because the field is still not institutionalised. But, there are numerous examples of NLP helping people overcome their limitations.There is the famous case of Phani Kumar who met with an accident that left him paralysed. After being told by neurologists that he would never be able to gain movement, he was able to do so after several NLP sessions.Today, Phani can eat by himself and sit with very little support.

Q SO,WHAT ARE THE SKILLS THAT A POTENTIAL NLP PRACTITIONER SHOULD POSSESS?

Antano and Harini: Keen observational skills: The ability to spot the elusive obvious; Calibration: The ability to spot the slight differences; State choice: The ability to change your feelings on demand. NLP practitioners can alter the mental state of their clients because they have mastery over their own; Micro muscle mirroring: A lot of body language theory exaggerates the power of mirroring the other person's movements to appear agreeable.What's natural is micro mirroring their movements and NLP can teach you to do this; Up time: A lot of leaders and managers get caught up in internal pictures. Most people are always inside their own heads. Up time means to be in a Zen state with your eyes open; Flexibility: People think that power requires you to be domineering. But, the truth is that the more flexible you are, the more power you have over the other person.The most flexible people can relate to just about anyone.

WHAT IS NLP (NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING)?<

NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING (NLP) IS A BRANCH OF PSYCHOTHERAPY CREATED BY RICHARD BANDLER AND JOHN GRINDER IN CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES IN THE 1970S WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNICATION AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT.THE CREATORS CLAIM THAT THERE IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE NEUROLOGICAL PROCESSES (“NEURO“), LANGUAGE (“LINGUISTIC“) AND BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS LEARNED THROUGH EXPERIENCE (“PROGRAMMING“) AND THAT THESE CAN BE ALTERED THROUGH SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES TO ATTAIN DESIRED GOALS IN LIFE.